


you taught me the courage of stars before you left

by serenesapphic



Category: Captain Marvel (2019), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, F/F, Fluff, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-25
Updated: 2019-03-25
Packaged: 2019-12-07 03:46:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18229478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serenesapphic/pseuds/serenesapphic
Summary: Carol has a nightmare and Maria is there to comfort her. A whole bunch of fluff with a bit of angst. Basically Maria and Carol being the soft lesbians that they are.





	you taught me the courage of stars before you left

**Author's Note:**

> hiii i'm ava and this is my first fic ever! i love constructive criticism but please be nice lol i'm sensitive. this is just a little one-shot but i have a lot of ideas about multi-chapter fics, so let me know if you enjoy my writing! thank you so much for reading <3

The explosions were deafening. All around her, dust and blood flew together, painting the war scene a dirty crimson. The ground was littered with bodies both dead and dying. Gunshots rang loudly in her ears. It was all too much. She’s trained for this. For years, she’d begged to be out in the field. To fight alongside the right side of the war. But was it the right side? The blood-curdling screams said otherwise.

Her thoughts continued to spiral until Vers pressed her back into the large boulder she was taking cover behind. The jagged edges almost pierced through her suit, the pressure grounding her mind. She shut her eyes for a moment. Deep breath in, deep breath out. She was doing the right thing. Defeating the enemy. Defending her people. Defeating the enemy. Defending her people. And with that, Vers opened her eyes and tightened the grip on her gun. She heard the shuffling of footsteps far too close to her. She steadied her hands and crafted the perfect emotionless expression on her face. With her finger poised over the trigger, she swung out from behind the rock and aimed to shoot.

But instead of the wrinkly, green Skrull she’d been told to kill on sight, she met the terrified eyes of an all too familiar little girl. Vers froze.

“Auntie Carol?”

A gunshot.

Carol sat straight up in bed, sweaty and trembling. A faded version of a fatally injured Monica still lingered behind her eyelids. She lifted a shaky hand to wipe a tear off of her cheek. Her breathing was choppy, and she even began to feel a bit lightheaded.

“Baby?”

Maria’s voice was low and raspy. She’d clearly been asleep. Carol slowly looked down to her right and saw her girlfriend rubbing tired eyes. She was wearing one of Carol’s old sweatshirts that she’d left behind before the crash. Just the sight of her began to calm Carol down. Still, her throat felt dry and her tongue wouldn't move. She only stared.

Maria took that as a cue to sit up. She stretched a little and shifted so that she was facing her seemingly mute girlfriend. Slowly, she took Carol’s hands into her own. Maria looked into the brown eyes she never thought she’d see again and her heart shattered. Carol was scared. Scared and hurt. She reached up and wiped away another falling tear, then rejoined their fingers. Carol stared at their connected hands.

“Hey, I'm right here, okay? Right by your side. You’re not alone, baby. Not anymore.”

Carol let out a shaky breath, but nodded. The words were hitting a wall in her mind. Her heart was still racing. The sound thudded in her ears. She was still at war. She was still slaughtering the innocent. She was still Vers.

“Talk to me?” Maria all but whispered. 

Carol blinked. She wanted to. She really did. She wanted to sob into Maria’s arms and tell her how guilty she felt. For murdering victims of the war, for trusting the wrong people, for leaving the love of her life. But her mouth opened and then closed again. There were too many thoughts in her mind, yet nothing made it out.

“Here, lay with me. Talk when you’re ready,” Maria assured.

The room was very dark, considering it was the very early hours of the morning. But Maria knew Carol’s body well, and she calmly guided her until she was laying back on the bed. At first, Maria lay on her back and Carol lay on her side. The only contact Maria kept was her right hand in Carol’s left. She wasn't sure how close Carol wanted her. These nightmares were fairly new. But Carol quickly closed the gap. She shuffled closer until her head was on Maria’s chest and their interlocked hands lay on Maria’s stomach. Their legs were tangled together and two bodies became one. Maria felt Carol’s heartbeat and planted a soft kiss on her blonde hair. It slowed.

Hours passed before either of them spoke. The navy sky gained an amber tint as the sun began to rise. Carol was finally calm. She was safe in Maria’s arms. She always had been. 

“It was Monica,” she mumbled, still nervous about Maria’s reaction. But Maria only pulled her closer, glad to hear Carol speak.

“What about her?” She replied, keeping her tone soft and quiet.

“I-” Carol began. She couldn't. But she wanted to. She tried again, “I, uh-”  
Her throat tightened and she buried her face in Maria’s chest.

“No, you didn't.” Maria assured. She understood. She’d always known how to connect the dots that Carol couldn't. She knew there was so much about Carol’s time away that she hadn’t been told about. She could only imagine the horrors.

“Yes, I did,” she responded, almost sounding angry.

“You did not. You have never hurt a hair on our little girl’s head. She loves you so much, baby. She never stopped loving you. And she never will. You could never change that. It was a bad dream. A really bad one, but still a dream. You went through something terrible, but you're not alone.” 

“Promise?” It was the most vulnerable Carol had ever been. Her heart was on her sleeve for the first time in forever. She felt open and raw and scared. But she didn't know what else to do.

“I promise,” Maria said with a certainty that brought the tiniest of smiles to Carol’s face. She nuzzled even closer to her favorite woman in the world. She was still scared, still traumatized, still hurt. But laying like this, with Maria by her side, she thought that just maybe everything would be okay.

Moments later, quiet footsteps came down the hallway and Carol tensed up, forgetting where she was for a moment. Maria just hummed and whispered Monica into her lover’s ear. Carol visibly relaxed. 

Sure enough, the nine-year old pushed open their bedroom door - a habit they would need to break soon enough - and made her way inside. 

“Hi,” she whispered, and Carol smiled wider than she had in months. Monica stood at the edge of her and Maria’s bed, her eyes wide and full of love. “Can I lay with you guys? I can't sleep.”

Maria looked down at Carol for reassurance. She’d been calm for a while now, but better safe than sorry. But the girl in her arms beat her to it.

“Come on up, Lieutenant Trouble! We missed you,” Carol said, giving off more energy than she had all night. 

Monica excitedly jumped on the bed and crawled towards the couple. She wiggled her way between Carol and Maria so that the blonde’s arms were wrapped around her and her head lay on her mother’s stomach. Inwardly, Carol worried a bit about having a conversation with the young girl, she wasn't sure how much she could take with her little figure squeezed so close. But within minutes, Monica was asleep. And so was Maria. 

Carol slept more peacefully than she ever had with her two best girls in her arms.


End file.
